The newest addition to the Benner's Farm family is Minnie, a six-week-old milking shorthorn calf who arrived on June 19.
Minnie came from a farm in Akron, Ohio, where farm owners Bob and Jean Benner found her at a conference for historical farms.
The Benner family had been looking for a new calf to add to the farm -- which happened to coincide with the time when the host farm was selling its calves for $100 each.
"Jean and I looked at each other and laughed because we realized we were thinking the same thing," Benner said. "We got this cow in our car and it took nine-and-a-half hours to get home."
Minnie is an unusual kind of cow: though she is predominantly female, she has the attributes of both a male and a female. Benner explained that it's because she was a twin whose sibling was the opposite gender. When the two placentas touch, there is an exchange of DNA and the two babies are born as "freemartins," or hermaphrodites.
Minnie eats five bottles a day and enjoys the attention of the kids attending summer camp at the farm.
"She's enjoying herself," Benner said. "We're very happy. We've been looking for a cow like this for three years."
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